Dawn of the One
by I'mJustAnotherGamer
Summary: My first fanfic, so please leave a review! I want to make this as good as possible. Anyways, I love SAO and The Matrix. And given the fact that I've always wanted to make my own fanfic basically combining the two, I made this. P.S. If you have seen The Matrix trilogy then you probably have a good idea of where this is headed. Rated T mainly for cursing. Takes place right after GGO.
1. Chapter 1

Kirito sat at his desk. He glances at the time on his computer monitor. It reads 1:37 AM. His eyes had been feeling very heavy for some time now. But he felt that he had to keep reading. Searching. He remembered the week before the events of SAO, that he was contacted by two hackers who calling themselves Morpheus and Trinity. They had said some very disturbing things, things that Kazuto thought no one knew about but him. But then SAO happened. He had never had a chance to investigate it further until now. It made him wonder. _How much do these people actually know about me? And what do they want from me? And what if they actually have the explanation? _The explanation that he was looking for was something that he had always secretly felt. He had a constant feeling that he was dreaming. That reality itself was a dream that he was trapped in. That he could never wake up from. He couldn't explain it, he just somehow knew it. It had always bothered him, like a splinter in his mind. And the things that the hackers said... he tried to remember. What did they say?He remembered vaguely that they had mentioned something about a Matrix. "The Matrix has you", is what he remembered.

He was slowly losing consciousness. He looked back at his screen one last time. He was researching the name Morpheus. As it turns out, Morpheus, from what he had been researching, was an infamous hacker sometimes even referred to as a terrorist. He was thought to be responsible of the dissapearances of many teenagers and young adults, although some of them had later been spotted working with him, even being accomplices in destroying small government buildings in many countries around the world. This should have immediately been a bad sign for Kazuto, but for some reason, he felt like he was supposed to be searching for him. That he had answers to the question that had plagued him all of his life.

His screen turned black. He initially thought his computer was going into sleep mode, as he had not touched his keyboard or mouse in several minutes. He pressed the space bar on his computer. Nothing. He tried pressing a few other keyes and moving his mouse. Still nothing. He noticed a green line of text slowly appearing on his screen. He wiped his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. The words became clear as he read them a few times over, still trying to make sure he was imagining this. _Hello Kirito. It has been a long time._

"What the hell..." Kirito whispered to himself as he tried pressing the escape key. The line of text dissapeared, only to have another take it's place.

_If you want answers, you will have to listen, and do as we say._

"What do they want from me..." Kirito once again whispered to himself. His voice noticably more shaky. The lines of text continued to dissapear and reappear.

_If you want to meet one of us and have the answers you are looking for, then you will have to trust us. I'm sorry, but there is no other way._

_ The device I am using can easily be traced, so I must be brief._

_ Tomorrow after your school ends, go to the courtyard. There, someone will meet you._

His monitor flashed black again for a split second, and it returned to the webpage he was on. He thought to himself. _Am I really going to do this? And if I do, what will I be getting into? What will happen to Asuna? To Klein? Sinon? All of us? And where will my mother and Sugu be in all of this... _His thoughts were interrupted by none other than his sister.

"Kazuto, what are you doing up this late? If mom finds you, you'll be in a lot of trouble." She sounded half asleep. He turned to see her standing in his doorway.

"Sugu, what are _you_ doing up this late?"

"I just got up for a drink of water." He then noticed the glass in her hand.

"I was just doing some late night browsing. Look, just don't tell mom, okay? I was about to go back to sleep anyway." But how could he? After what he had just seen.

"Fine, I won't tell. Just go back to sleep though. You have school tomorrow."

"And so do you. Goodnight Sugu."

"Goodnight."


	2. Chapter 2

He had been waiting anxiously all day. Waiting for the final bell that signaled the end of school for the day. He always did this. Waiting for the chance to go home and play ALfhiem. But he knew this time would be different. He was supposed to go to the courtyard, but he was afraid of what may happen if he did. He looked at the clock. One more minute. He had already packed his bags. He looked across the room at Asuna. _How can I make it out of here without her following? Even then though, we usually meet in the courtyard after school. _He racked his brain trying to think of a way. All he could think of was to rush out of the classroom as soon as the bell rings and hope that whoever was meeting him would be there. _So be it then._

The bell rang. He stood up and walked as fast as he could to the door. He could feel almost everyone else in the classroom look at him and think, "What the hell is his problem?" Everyone else was always ready to leave, but to jolt up out of his seat and make a beeline for the door? No one was that frantic about it._ Just keep going, just keep going._ He saw the door that lead to the courtyard. He realized he was almost sprinting. _Almost there. _He burst through the doors and looked behind him. No one had followed, but he figured Asuna wasn't too far behind. He turned to look at the courtyard. It looked empty to him, until he noticed a woman sitting on a bench out in the middle of the courtyard. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, and she certainly wasn't Japanese._ Is that who I'm supposed to be meeting?_ He thought to himself as he calmly began to approach her. He couldn't help but notice how attractive she was. She wore a black dress and had deep black hair tied into a ponytail. He tried to speak to her. "Um, hello-"

"Hello Kirito." She said with a light smile. Somewhat taken off guard, he asked her a question.

"How do you know that name?"

"I know a lot about you." She said once again with a smile.

"That's... kinda disturbing." He said as he took a seat next to her.

"My name is Trinity." He felt chills go down his spine. Was this really _the_ Trinity? The one who was supposedly allied with Morpheus?

"Trinity... _the_ Trinity? The one that managed to hack the American IRS database a few years ago?"  
"That was a long time ago." She said with a more serious tone. "Look, I need you to listen to me right now. I may have been followed here, so I don't have much time." He glanced over his shoulder to see Asuna walking out the door. She was walking slowly, so he had a little bit more time. "They are coming for you, Kirito."

"Who is?"

"Just listen. First, I need you to take this. Keep it with you at all times." She handed him a small cellphone. "I know what you are looking for. I know because I was once looking for the same thing. But when he found me, he told me that I wasn't really looking for him. I was looking for an answer, and it had found me. It will find you too, Kirito. You just have to let it." He began to stand up. "One more thing. If what we believe is true, then you could be more important than you ever imagined." Her last words surprised him.

"Why me? Why would I be so important? What do you people want from me?!" His voice was beginning to sound louder.

"Stop. I have to be going. Just keep the phone with you." She told him as she stood up. She began to walk away, and he just stood there. Unsure of what to think or do. She approached a dark grey car at the edge of the courtyard and got in the passenger seat. He could make out one more person in the driver's seat, although he couldn't see anything but a glimpse of the side of their head and shoulder.

"Who was that?" Asuna said, startling him.

"I... I honestly don't know. But look, Asuna, have you ever had the feeling to where... you're not sure if you're awake or still dreaming?" She seemed caught off guard.

"Well... sometimes? I mean haven't we all at some point?" She paused for a moment. "Are you feeling okay? You look pretty pale."

"Wait, you mean you've felt that feeling before?"

"You probably won't believe me..." Her face began to look anxious. Almost afraid. "... I get that feeling a lot. You too?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He wasn't alone in this feeling?

"Yeah. Look, lets just go. We'll talk about this later if you want to. Also, I won't be able to get on ALfhiem tonight. I... have some work to do." She could tell there was something else going on.

"Alright. Mind if I walk home with you then?" They both started to smile again.

"Fine with me." Kirito said with almost a joking tone.

"Alright. Let's go."

8 HOURS LATER

"Come on. Almost there..." He was running faster than he had ever ran in his life. _Please don't be too late, don't be too late! _He told himself as he sprinted for the front door of his house. He could already hear voices inside.

"Where is he? Your last chance." He didn't know who the voice was. It sounded like a man. Very serious, almost malevolent. He continued to run faster, driven by the cries he could hear of his mother and sister. He heard a gunshot. He burst through the front door. He saw three men in suits and sunglasses. Strange, as it was midnight. Two of them were restraining his mother against a wall. But then he looked down. His heart stopped. One of the men stood up. He had a large pistol in his hand. At the man's feet was the dead body of his sister, laying in a pool of blood coming from a hole in the side of her head. His mother was hysterical. Trying to say something, but to him, the world was frozen. The man turned to look at his mother. "You have fulfilled your purpose, and as a result, you are no longer needed." He lifted his arm to aim the pistol at her head.

"**NO!**" Kirito screamed as he tried to attack the man with the gun. He grabbed his arm, getting his attention. He tried to throw a punch, but it was easily caught. He saw the man lift his other arm, with the pistol having somehow dissapeared in those few short seconds. The next thing he knew was that he was on the ground, a good two or three meters away from the man. The next thing he was aware of was the unholy pain coming from his chest. He looked down, no bullet hole. He had been punched. He felt a liquid coming up into his throat. He coughed. Blood. He heard another gunshot. He looked back up to see his mother fall to the ground. Dead. The man slowly walked over to him. Paralyzed with pain, he could only watch. The man aimed his pistol at Kirito's head as the other two stood at his side.

"Only human."


	3. Chapter 3

Kirito woke up screaming. The pain had subsided, and he immediately noticed that he was in his bed. "Just a dream..." he told himself. He looked over at his clock. 1:08 AM. Suguha rushed into his room.

"Kazuto! What's wrong? What happened?" She said with a very worried tone in her voice.

"Nothing... just a nightmare. A really bad one at that." His voice was still very shaky.

"What all happened?" This made him crack a light smile. His sister had always been there for him, ready to help.

"I... was running..."

"Go on."

"...trying to get back to the house. It was the middle of the night, and I just felt like something was going horribly wrong. There was a gunshot just as I ran in. Three men were there. Two were restraining mom... demanding to know where I was. The other was standing up with a gun in his hand..." Tears were beginning to form in his eyes. "...and he had shot you." His entire body was trembling now.

"It's okay. I'm right here."

"And then... he turned to look at mom. He was about to shoot her. I tried to stop him, but... he... he hit me. So hard that I fell backwards and started coughing up blood." She took a step back. "He shot mom, and then he walked over to where I was. All three of them stood over me. But then that one man... the one who shot you two... said something." He was trying to think of what exactly he had said. "He said... only human. Then I woke up. It scared the living hell outta me."

"I can tell. Look, I'm right here. Me and mom aren't going anywhere. I'm sorry about the nightmare. I'll talk to you tomorrow morning about it if you feel like it. Okay?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine. It just seemed so real though... It didn't even feel like a dream. It felt like I was there."

"You'll be fine. I'm going back to bed. I love you." She wrapped her arms around Kirito.  
"Love you too. Goodnight Sugu." He said as she got back up and started walking towards the door. He fell back in his bed. "What the hell is happening to me..." He said to himself. Did this have to do with Trinity and Morpheus? What was ahead of him? Where was this all going? He kept thinking for what felt like hours. He looked over at the phone that Trinity had told him to keep. Picking it up, he noticed that it looked to be very old. Possibly from the early 2000s. He pressed a button on the side. It slid open, revealing a keypad. Why had she given him such an old phone? And why hadn't she bothered to call him? That answer seemingly answered itself, as the phone began to ring.

Startled, Kirito hesitated, then pressed the answer button. "Hello?" No response. "Trinity?"

"Hello Kirito." He immediately noticed that this was not Trinity's voice. It was the voice of a man. He had a very deep voice, yet it almost seemed gentle. It took him a moment to realize who this was.

"Morpheus?"

"Yes. Listen. Right now I don't have time to explain. They are coming for you."

"Who is?" Kirito asked. Now sounding somewhat more afraid.

"Look out your window to see for yourself." He began to walk towards the window in his room. "Do it slowly." He lifted a single window shutter. What he saw, terrified him. It was a black car. But that wasn't all. In the driver's seat was the man from his nightmare. In the passenger seat and in the backseat were the other two men.

"Shit! Those are the same people from my dream! What is happening? Who the hell are you people?!"

"Stop. I don't have time. They are going to come for you. They spotted you with Trinity yesterday. I am very sorry, but you are going to have to work with us."

"Who are they?"

"If you don't want to find out then you are going to have to leave your house now. Make sure that you aren't spotted. Don't worry. They won't hurt your mother or sister." He wasn't sure what to do. He thought that it was just a dream but this... this was real.

"How can I trust you?"

"You have to. You don't know this, but while you have spent the last few months looking for me, I've spent my entire life looking for you." Finally convinced, he ran as quietly as he could to the back door of his house. He then broke into a full sprint, hopping the fence into his neighbor's back yard. "Keep moving. Go until you get to the end of your street. Then, turn left. Trinity will be there waiting for you." He hopped the second fence. He ran to the gate on the other side of the backyard and opened it. He looked down back at his house. The men were there, talking to his mother who answered the door. _Please be okay. _He thought to himself as he continued to run down his street. Just as he was rounding the corner he took one last glance back. The door to his house was closed, and the men were returning to their car. Relieved, he looked ahead to see Trinity on a motorcycle.

"Come on! Hurry!" She sounded desperate, which made him remember those men looking for him could be right behind him. He jumped on the motorcycle, and she quickly took off.

"Who are those people?" His voice sounding more relaxed.

"Agents."

"You mean, like, government agents?"

"No. These are different."

"Different how?" The anxious tone in his voice was returning.  
"They aren't people. And stop asking questions, answers are coming." At first he thought she was joking, but her tone let him know that she was very serious. He didn't speak for minutes, he just sat on the back of the motorcycle, thinking. _Why me? What did I do? Why are those... things... apparently, from my dream also real? _"We're here." He glanced up. She had stopped right next to an old building. Definitely closed down.

"Why here?"

"It's the safest place we could think of." She told him as she dismounted the motorcycle and started walking towards the door. Despite it being the middle of the night, he noticed she was wearing sunglasses. In addition, she wore a shiny leather jacket and pants. A very different outfit from their first meeting. She led him to the stairs and stopped abruptly. "A quick word of advice, be honest. He knows more than you could imagine." She must have been talking about Morpheus. How could she be talking about anyone else? They continued up the stairs until they reached the seventh floor. On the way he noticed he was still wearing what he had on when he woke up. Which made him remember. _Oh shit. Suguha and mom must be really freaking out now that they have probably noticed I'm missing._ "Right up ahead." She walked towards a large wooden door that looked to be decaying and opened it. As he walked inside, he saw a black man in a long dark coat and sunglasses looking out a window. He turned to see Kirito.

"Welcome. As you no doubt have guessed, I am Morpheus." He spoke with a gentle tone, despite being a relatively large man.

"It's an honor to meet you." Kirito said, unsure that these were the right words. But what made him feel even more perplexed, were the words Morpheus said back.

"No, the honor is mine. Please take a seat." Morpheus glanced at two wine red leather chairs seated at opposite ends of a small table that had a glass of water on it. "I could imagine, you are feeling a bit like Alice, hmm? Tumbling down the rabbit hole?" It took him a moment to understand the reference.

"You could say that." This made the man crack a smile as he took a seat. Kirito couldn't help but notice the small container in his hand.

"I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a person who accepts what they see, because they are expecting to wake up. Ironically this is not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Kirito?

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life."

"I know exactly what you mean. Let me tell you why you are here. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You aren't sure what it is, but you simply feel that something is wrong with the world. You can never shake the feeling. It has always been there, like a splinter in your mind. It is this feeling that has brought us here." He knew what Morpheus was talking about all too well. "Do you know what it is? I once told you this." Kirito paused for several moments, trying to remember what Morpheus had told him years ago.

"The... the Matrix?"

"Yes. Do you want to know what exactly it is?" Kirito could only nod his head. He was feeling incredibly anxious. "The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even in this very room. You can see it when you look out you window. Or when you turn on your computer. You can feel it when you go to school. When you walk home with her. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth."

"What truth?"

"That you are a slave, Kirito. Like everyone else you know you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison, for your mind." Morpheus began to lean further back in his chair. "Unfortunately no one can be simply told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself." He began to open the container, emptying out two pills. "This will be your last chance to turn back." He held out his hands, a red pill in his left, and a blue pill in his right. "You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland. And I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes."

He found himself thinking over the decision as thoroughly as he could. After nearly a minute of silence, he reached for the red pill. Morpheus stopped him to say a few last words. "As of now, all I offer is the truth. Nothing more. But remember, after this, there is no turning back." He continued to take the red pill. He put it in his mouth, took the glass of water, and swallowed. "Come with me." Morpheus said as he stood up from his chair. Kirito followed him across the room to another door. Morpheus opened it, letting him in. In the room there was what appeared to be another chair, a broken mirror, and a large amount of equipment that to Kirito looked like something straight out of a sci-fi movie.

"Sit down." It was a familiar voice. He turned and saw Trinity apparently operating some of the equipment. He took a seat in the chair, and noticed another man working with the equipment. He appeared to be in his late-thirties, completely bald, and wore a shorter version of the coat Morpheus was wearing. He continued to look at two others, a man and a woman who looked older than Trinity but not as old as the other man. The woman wore a white suit and similarly had short white hair. The man had a short beard and slicked back hair. He heard Morpheus start talking.

"The pill you took was designed to disrupt your carrier signal so we can pinpoint your location within the Matrix."

"What does that mean?" Even Kirito realized how confused his own voice sounded. The bald man answered his question.

"It means buckle your seat belt, Dorothy. Because Kansas is going bye-bye." He heard a few chuckles from around the room. He glanced over at the broken mirror. Something seemed strange about it. He couldn't quite tell what, he just knew. Then it happened. The mirror repaired itself. He reached out to touch it, only to have his finger go _into _the mirror with a ripple effect, almost like a liquid. Astonished, he slowly pulled his finger out, only to have the reflective liquid stick to his finger. What immediately horrified him though, was that it began to make it's way up his finger. Onto his hand. Spreading to his arm. He was also aware that it felt incredibly cold, like he was sticking his arm into a block of ice. It made it's way to his torso, and he began to panic.

"What's happening?" He could hardly speak. This was due to the fact that that he was struggling to _breathe._ The liquid was suffocating him, moving up his throat. Morpheus answered his question.

"Don't worry. It will be over any second now. Apoc do you almost have him?"

"Almost... alright, got him!"

Kirito felt a sharp pain erupt throughout his body. Using the last bit of air he had left in his lungs, he screamed for a single second, then blacked out.


	4. Chapter 4

Kirito slowly opened his eyes. He could feel his body floating in a pool of some kind of thick liquid. Then he realized he couldn't breathe. Suddenly panicking, he reached forward, his vision still blurry. He felt his hand push through a rubbery surface as he started to try and stand. He felt his torso come out of the liquid he was in, but he was still struggling to breathe. He started to feel something coming that was sticking out of his mouth. He reached for it and pulled, but it was very long. Long enough to where it took him three tries to finally get it out of his body. He was able to breathe now, gasping for breath, and his vision began to come into focus. He looked down at his body, still mostly submerged. He was completely nude, and multiple black wires were coming out of various places on his body. He reached to the back of his head, realizing that not only was he completely bald, but he felt a large black chunk of metal that was seemingly attached to his head. He could tell there was a wire leading out behind it, as he couldn't turn his neck very effectively. In addition, he felt a strange sensation when he attempted to look around. Was that piece of metal sticking _into _the back of his head?

Still unable to make out what was happening around him, he looked out of the corner of his eye to see what appeared to be another person, seemingly asleep, in a pod just like the one he was in. He began to take notice of his other senses, he heard high-pitched crackles of electricity off in the distance, too high-pitched to be thunder. His body reeked of the smell of corpses, and it was also unbearably cold. There was also a light scent of oil and grease. He still couldn't see what was in the distance, although his vision was getting progressively better. What he could see were rows of other pods, above him, beside him, below him, and each containing another person. They all seemed to be plugged in to massive columns of machinery, and when he meant massive, they were massive. Literally the size of skyscrapers, and all riddled with thousands of pods.

He began to hear a faint buzzing noise coming from above him. At first he thought it was just him hearing things, but as it slowly got louder, as if it was coming closer, he knew it was real. The source of the buzzing came down in to full view. It seemed like a giant insect, only mechanical. It had multiple red, glowing eyes. Kirito jumped back a few inches when small, spiny arms flew out of either side of what appeared to be the insect-resembling machine's thorax. The arms slowly came towards him, reaching for the wires coming out of his body. It yanked out two that connected to his chest, and then four more connected to his arms. He tried to scream at the pain, but his voice was apparently something that was still developing, as all that came out was a small, quiet yelp. He wanted to scream even more as he felt at least ten more of the wires pop out of his back with a loud hissing sound. The machine reached to the back of his head, and pulled out the large piece of metal connected to his head. Not only was there pain, but his entire body fell limp and most of his senses had stopped working for a second. The machine calmly flew off, which was another thing that bothered him. How did it fly without wings or some kind of propulsion system?

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud, metallic scraping sound coming from behind him. As he turned around, he became aware that he was being pulled downward, like he was being flushed. Unable to resist, he fell down the chute, in a complete free fall in darkness. It abruptly ended when he landed in what felt like water. He tried to swim, but his muscles were useless. Then he realized that he had never actually _used_ them before in his life. He was beginning to drown, but a light suddenly appeared above. He could hear the sound of machinery working just over the sound of his own thrashing in the water. His muscles completely gave out, partially due to being strained and the intense cold around him. A kind of large metal claw slowly reached down and wrapped around his body, lifting him up. Once he felt his body no longer being suspended in air, an almost unconscious Kirito opened his eyes one last time to see a few blurry faces in front of him. Just before he once again blacked out, he heard the familiar voice of Morpheus whisper to him, "Welcome... to the real world."


	5. Chapter 5

Kirito slowly began to awake, realizing that he wasn't in his own bed. The previous three days came flashing back to him when he looked around the room he was in. The room looked like a cross between steampunk and cyberpunk in the sense that he could tell there was some high tech equipment laying around, including a large rifle shaped object, and there didn't appear to be any surface in the room that wasn't a dark grey metal or fading cloth. There was a heavy stench of rubber and oil, and when he looked down at his body, laying in a small bed barely large enough for one person, he saw tens of little pins sticking into his body as well as a few laying in a small tray with traces of blood on them. He wondered why they had been performing acupuncture on him. He was still nude save for a thick white sheet covering him from his waist to his ankles. In addition, the plugs on his body where the wires connected had been removed almost without a trace of them ever being there. A few feet away from the the bed he was in was a man looking at what appeared to be falling lines of green code. Still too exhausted to try and say something, he glanced beside him. On one side was a door that led to what appeared to be a bedroom, a very small one at that, filled with at least four bunk beds hardly any larger than the one he was laying in. On a few of them lay the people that he saw in back in the room that he had been seemingly unplugged in. On his other side was a woman, sitting down in a torn, faded leather chair that looked to be bolted to the floor. It took him a moment to realize this was Trinity. Her black hair only came down to the base of her neck, and she wore a torn grey sweater, black jeans and large, dark, military style boots.

"You're finally awake." She spoke with a gentle, almost mother-like tone. Finally gathering the strength to speak, he asked her a question.

"How long have I been asleep?" His voice was still somewhat hoarse.

"Almost two days. And before you ask about all the needles, they are for rebuilding your muscles. Each one is laced with a powerful protein that quickly builds muscles. Too much of it can be deadly though. It is mildly poisonous after all, so you may feel a little light-headed for a while." He didn't care about his muscles. _Two days? Everyone back at home must be worried sick._

"Will I be able to come back for them? My family and my friends?" He heard Morpheus speak to him from somewhere behind him.

"Yes, but not now. Before you can go back in, you have to be prepared."

"Prepared for what? And more importantly, what is the Matrix, and what's going on right now?"

"It's a lot to explain. Just rest for now." This aggravated him.

"No! What are you hiding from me? I'm tired of only hearing that answers are coming and not getting them!" He had sat up without even realizing it.

"Hey, calm down." Trinity's soothing voice replied to him. "If you want, we can start now. Do you feel strong enough to stand?"

"Yeah, but... I'm kinda-"

"Don't worry about it. We all came out of the pods that way." This was true. If they had come out of those pods just like him hadn't they gone through this exact same situation? Hesitantly, he began to stand up, using the bed for support. He had underestimated his own strength, as when he let his arm down, his legs were more than strong enough to support the weight of his body. In fact, he seemed to be nearly, if not equally strong as he was before.

"Is there anything I can wear?" He didn't feel as embarrassed as he thought he would be, being fully nude in front of people he had just met.

"In that room over there." Trinity pointed down a short corridor with another rusty metal door at the end of it. "There should be a few things your size. I'm not sure about shoes though." He walked towards the door as calmly as he could, trying as hard as he could to notice his nakedness as little as possible. In the room he found a torn grey shirt and black pants. They seemed to fit good enough, but there were only two remaining pairs of boots, and one pair was slightly too large, the others seemed to fit okay, although they felt a bit too wide. Walking out of the room, he saw Trinity sitting in the same spot she had been in, and Morpheus was waiting at the end of the hallway.

"Come with me. This is my ship, the Nebuchadnezzar." Morpheus led him past the man sitting at the three man sitting at the three monitors, who looked up and smiled at him. He was African, with curly black hair as well as some short stubble, and looked to be not much older than Kirito. In the middle of the room ahead of him were the people he saw back in the old building, lined up shoulder to shoulder. Surrounding them were chairs that resembled something in a dentist's office, but with cables coming out from behind them. Going from right to left, Morpheus told him their names. Placing his hands on the shoulder of the one who had made the Wizard of Oz reference, Morpheus spoke. "This is Cypher. Apoc, Switch..." He began to go down the row of people, Apoc being the one with the beard and Switch being the woman with white hair. "This is Dozer, and the one over there is his younger brother Tank. The little one behind you is Mouse." Turning around, Kirito looked at Mouse, who was a few feet behind him. He looked younger than Kirito by about a year. He nodded at Kirito, and Kirito simply nodded back. Hearing footsteps, Kirito turned back around to see Trinity walking over to Morpheus. "And of course, my second in command Trinity. Now then, are you ready to get started?" Pausing for a moment, Kirito responded.

"I guess. Started for what?"

"I'm going to answer your questions. Now then, take a seat wherever you like." The others cleared out of the room off to whatever they where doing a few minutes prior to Morpheus calling them. Sitting down in one of the chairs, Trinity strapped his arms and legs down to the chair. "Just relax. This will feel a little weird."

"Wait, wha-", Kirito was cut off by immense pain coming from the back of his head, hearing a small hissing sound before closing his eyes due to the pain. Suddenly, the pain eased. Opening his eyes, Kirito was surprised by what was around him. He was in a completely white room, no doors or windows, not even a noticeable wall. A few feet in front of him were two leather chairs and an old television set. He heard Morpheus begin to speak from behind him.

"This, is the construct. It is our loading program. We can load anything from clothes, weapons, vehicles, and equipment to be brought into the Matrix."

"Wait, right now, we are inside a computer program?"

"Is it really so hard to believe? After all, scientists say the human mind is like a computer itself. Just look at yourself, the plug in the back of your head is gone, and your clothes and hair have changed." Kirito looked down at his body and felt his head. His hair was back to it's normal length, the plug was gone like Morpheus had said, and he was wearing a black shirt, pants and shoes. "Your appearance now is what we call your R.S.I., or, Residual Self-Image. It is the mental projection, of your digital self." Becoming more and more dumbfounded by the moment, Kirito asked the only question he could think of.

"This... this isn't real?"  
"What _is_ real? How do you define real? If you're talking what you can feel, what you can smell, taste, hear, or see, than real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain. This is the world that you know." Morpheus turned on the television. It looked to be the skyline of Tokyo. "The world as it was, at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It exists only now, as a part of a neural interactive simulation, that we call the Matrix." Kirito couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You've been living in a dream world, Kirito. This is the world as it exists today." He pressed another button on the remote, and before even knew what was happening, the room had changed. The white floor became cracked asphalt and gravel. Looking around him, he saw a wasteland of nothing but stone, gravel, and even human bones. Behind him was a crumbling city, buildings torn apart with very few still standing, and only their exteriors still somewhat intact. The temperature dropped to sub-freezing levels, and the sky was almost black with thick clouds, illuminated only by the frequent bolt of lightning. "Welcome, to the desert, of the real." Kirito was at a complete loss of words. "Let me tell you how this came to be. Sometime in the middle of the twenty-first century, all of mankind was united in celebration, as we gave birth, to the first, fully functioning, human-like AI."

"AI... you mean artificial intelligence?" He couldn't help but think of Yui when he said this.

"Yes. While AI existed long before this event, it took decades to perfect it." After a long pause, he continued. "No one knows who exactly struck first. But what we do know is that soon enough, mankind and machines were locked in an all-out war. Desperate for survival, we scorched the sky. The machines were heavily dependent on the sun for energy, so we thought they wouldn't be able to get by without an energy source as abundant as the sun itself. As a result, we blocked out the sky with smoke and other gases, so no sunlight could penetrate. The machines looked for alternative resources, and after years of trial and error, they had found a way to artificially _grow_ human beings. There are fields, Kirito. Endless fields where human beings are no longer born, we are grown. Infants were implanted with those plugs that we removed from you, and immediately connected to the Matrix. Combined with a form of fusion, the machines had found all the energy they could ever need. Throughout history, humanity has been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, as it seems, is not without a sense of irony." Kirito stood with a blank expression on his face, astonished at what he was hearing. The room slowly shifted back to it's original blank state. Morpheus continued talking behind him. "What is the Matrix? The Matrix, is a computer generated dream world. Built in order to change a human being..." He held up a small battery. "...into this." Kirito hadn't spoken in minutes. He coulnd't tell if he was in awe or horror-probably both.

"I... it's... it's hard to believe. I mean, to think that all those years, none of it was actually real." Kirito still didn't move.

"I have to say, you've taken this much better than I thought. Most have a nervous breakdown or completely pass out. We rarely free a mind once it has reached the age of sixteen. The mind becomes dependent on the system, and the longer a person is plugged in, the harder time they have letting go. You are seventeen, after all."

"Just... give me time to think."

"Very well. Tank, unplug us." Before Kirito realized what Morpheus had said, he felt another sharp pain coming from the back of his head. He opened his eyes to see the familiar interior of the Nebuchadnezzar. Tank unstrapped Kirito's arms and legs, then went to assist Morpheus. Kirito slowly stood up, and walked to the bedroom. Laying down in the first one he saw, he looked up. However, he wasn't wondering about the Matrix, he found himself worried about the ones he loved, and what all may happen when he was inevitably going back in to free them.


	6. Chapter 6

Kirito was finally drifting off after what felt like hours laying in bed. He hadn't spent most of his time thinking about the fact that the world he lived in for 17 years was a lie, but instead focused on trying to figure out ways he could get all of his friends out of the Matrix.

His thoughts were interrupted by Tank opening up the door with a big grin on his face. "Did you sleep well?" He asked very cheerfully.

"No."

"Well, you will tonight. Hi, I'm Tank. I'll be your operator. Now come on, let's get started."

Kirito stood up slowly. "You seem pretty cheerful."

"Yeah, it's just... man, if Morpheus was right-"

Kirito cut him off. "Right about what?"  
"He hasn't told you yet? About the prophecy? The Oracle? Or why you're even here in the first place?" He was still keeping up his happy attitude.

"No. I think Trinity mentioned it to me briefly back when we first met. She said something about me being really important. Oh yeah, and Morpheus said he'd been looking for me all his life. I hadn't really given it much thought until now."

"Well, I guess he'll fill you in on the details later. You've got some training to do. Now get in there and take a seat." Kirito did just that without asking any questions. "Alright then... you'll feel a little pinch."

"Wait not agai-" He was once again cut short by the pain of that large cable plugging into the back of his head. Although it quickly subsided, he could definitely feel it.

"Alright, I'm supposed to start you off with all of these instructions, training manuals, and all other sorts of boring-ass crap. I say we do something a little more interesting. How about... combat training." He had no idea what was going on. How could he train if he was strapped to this chair? He heard Tank put in some kind of disc into the computer, and a monitor sitting next to Kirito's chair turned on, showing in bold letters, **Ju Jitsu**.

"Ju Jitsu... I'm going to learn Ju Jitsu?" Kirito had almost an amused tone in his voice.

"Yep. And here we go!" Tank pressed a button, and Kirito felt his mind being overwhelmed with information, blinking rapidly, almost like he was having a seizure, and before he knew it, he had memorized every technique in Ju Jitsu. It was exhilarating.

Gasping for breath, Kirito muttered, "Holy shit."  
"Ooh, I think he likes it! Does he want some more?"

Kirito couldn't say the words fast enough. "Hell yes! Hell yeah."

10 HOURS LATER

Kirito had been watching the monitor non-stop, eagerly wanting to know what martial art he would learn next. Morphues walked in.

"Everything going smoothly?"

Tank was finally looking tired. "Ten... freaking... hours. This kid is a machine. Oh yeah, you still haven't told him about the prophecy?"

"I'll tell him later in training."

"Good thing. He's asked about it several times today. Anyways, combat training is almost complete. Just got two more. If you want to spar with him I'll hook you up."

Morpheus took a seat. "Go ahead."

Kirito looked up from his seat. "I know kung-fu."

"Then show me. Tank, load us up."

Kirito closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was in found himself in a large, mostly wooden room with a large space in the middle. He was wearing a white robe, and was barefoot. Looking across the room, he saw Morpheus in similar clothing.

"What I'm trying to show you, is that the Matrix and other simulations like it are based on rules. Much like those of a computer program, some of these rules can be bent. Others can be broken. So hit me, if you can." Kirito couldn't help but grin. He charged at Morpheus as fast as he could, only to have him dodge Kirito's punch, and kick him in the chest. Stunned, Morpheus took this chance for a follow up, although this time, Kirito dodged, and attempted to counter, to no avail of course. The same thing went on for several minutes. Kirito was able to dodge and block some of Morpheus' attacks, although he couldn't seem to land a single hit.

Morpheus was becoming aggravated with the lack of Kirito's speed. "Come on, you're faster than this! Don't think you are, know you are!" Listening, Kirito managed to land his knee in Morpheus' stomach, sending him back a few feet against a support beam. Kirito lunged at him, realizing his chance, and stopped short mere inches from his head.

His grin returning, Kirito sugly said, "I think I get it now."

"I'm just trying to free your mind. Good, it takes most several simulations before they finally land a hit on their opponent." Looking up at the ceiling, Morpheus spoke to Tank. "Tank, load the jump program."

The room began to shift, and before he knew it, Kirito was standing on the top of a building. "Bending the rules of a simulation go much further than just increasing your speed. For instance," Morpheus stopped talking as he turned around and ran to the edge of the building, and jumped. But instead of falling, Morpheus kept on going in the air until he reached the rooftop across the street.

Kirito stood in amazement. "Whoa..." He walked over to the edge, looking down at the street below. "...okay... just... free my mind." He started sprinting as fast as he could towards the edge of the building, and jumped. Hoping to make it to the other side, all of his hopes were dashed when he began plummeting towards the streets, flailing his arms and legs and shouting all the way down. Instead of becoming roadkill however, the asphalt gave way once he hit, much like a trampoline. Before he had a chance to even think about what was actually happening, he was flying upward, and then falling down once again, biting his toungue when he finally landed. He laid there for a few moments in shame, even murmuring to himself, "That sucked." He finally mustered the strength to stand up, but when he did, he saw other people walking along the sidewalks, and cars coming down the streets.

He heard Morpheus speak from the sidewalk. "Over here." Obeying Kirito lazily walked over. "Very good, but you'll still need some work. Your training is almost complete. Before you can re-enter the Matrix, you will need to know one thing."

"What?"

"Agents. Turn around." He turned to see a gun pointed right between his eyes, and the same man, no, machine from his nightmare. He instinctively ducked, somehow not noticing that Morpheus had told Tank to 'freeze it'. He saw the people walking around him freeze in place, and the agent wasn't moving.

"This... this isn't the Matrix?"

"No. This is another simulation to prepare you. An agent can take over the mind of anyone still hardwired into the Matrix. They are everyone, and they are no one."

"So... they can take over the body of anyone still plugged in?"

"Correct. In addition, if they see a normal person still plugged into the Matrix communicating with a redpill, someone who has been unplugged, then they will go after siblings and parents if the person dissapears a short time after."

Kirito reacted almost instantly. "What?! Let me out, now! Let me out, I have to get back!" His eyes were forcefully closed, and he woke up inside the Nebuchadnezzar. "Let me back in now! I don't have time to explain, just get me back in as fast as you can!" He was practically screaming at Tank. "Now! Get me as close as you can to my house!"

He was pulled abruptly back into the Matrix. He immediately looked at his surroundings. It was midnight, and pouring down rain. He saw his school, and started running. He knew it was at least a mile to his house, but he had to try. He ran until he finally made it to his street, and broke into a mad sprint when he saw the same car that the agents were in parked in front of his house. _Come on... please don't be too late!_ He was coming up on his front door, and he prayed the gunshot he had just heard was simply a warning shot as he burst through. He saw it again. His nightmare had become real life. He was frozen in shock. The agent stood up. Just like his dream, the corpse of his sister was on the ground with a bullet hole in the side of her head, leaking blood and bits of skull onto the floor. The agent looked at him.

"It is him." He turned to look at his mother, restrained against the wall, crying hysterically. He lifted up his gun to shoot.

Kirito once again screamed "**NO!**" at the top of his lungs as he desperately tried to get the pistol out of the agent's hand. He threw a punch, only to have the agent counter, and slam him right in his chest, and send him flying backwards. He felt the same nightmarish pain coming from his chest once again as he heard the gunshot across the room and saw his mother drop to the floor. They walked over to him. He was still immobilized with pain, and the weapon was aimed at his head.

"Only human."

Kirito couldn't have predicted what happened next. He heard more gunshots behind him, and the agents fell to the floor, and dissapeared in a flash of green code. He felt hands grab him by his shoulders and pick him up. He turned around to see Trinity, with a submachine gun in her left hand.

"Are you alright?" Kirito couldn't respond. He had just watched two people he loved get murdered right in front of him. It pained him to turn around and look at them. He slowly walked forward, tears running down his face. Kneeling over Suguha's body, and overcome with sadness, he burst out crying, cradling his sister's corpse, her shirt stained with tears and blood.

"No... no, no, no... why?" He felt Trinity's hand on his shoulder.

"Kirito I... I'm so sorry. This is my fault." She sounded as if she was about to start crying as well.

He turned around to hug her. "No... it's okay. It's not your fault."

"We need to get going though. The agents will respawn any second now." He finally stood up.

"Alright," He took one last look at his mother and sister. "Lets go."


	7. Chapter 7

"So, who else do we need to get out?" Trinity said as she got on her motorcycle, the tone in her voice still uneasy after what had just happened.

Kirito tried to wipe the tears off his face. "Five people. Asuna, Klein, Sinon, Lisbeth, and Silica." This nearly made him start to cry again. It would have been seven including his mother and Suguha. He'd decided not to get Agil. Like Morpheus had said, he was a grown man, and would have significant trouble letting go.

"Who's first? We won't be able to get all of them tonight."

He didn't even have to think before he answered. "Asuna."

"Alri-" She was cut short by a gunshot that whizzed past them and hit the building next to them, exploding on impact. He turned to see one of the agents as Trinity took off. He heard at least three more shots, one of which grazed Trinity's shoulder. She took one hand off the handlebars to reach to an earpiece that she had in and slammed on the brakes. "Tank, find Asuna's address. Also, get someone to pick us up." After a few moments, her eyes began rapidly blinking, much like whenever Kirito was in combat training. She hit the throttle as soon as Asuna's address was done downloading. It took her almost no time to get there. As soon as she did, Kirito jumped off the bike and ran towards her front door. He pounded on their door as loud as he could while shouting Asuna's name. Her father opened the door.

"Kazuto? What are you doing here at this time of the night?"

He practically shouted, "Sir, I need to see Asuna at once. This is an emergency." Before Mr. Yuuki could reply, Kirito noticed a green haze quickly form around him and saw him transform into an agent, right before his eyes. Morpheus was right once again. He instinctively jumped back and to the side, somehow knowing that Trinity was about to open fire. The agent however, dodged all of the bullets that came from her gun. He lifted up his own pistol, but was stopped by Kirito. He kicked the gun out of his hand and threw a punch. It connected, and seemed to stun the agent. He tried to land a second, but had no such luck. The agent caught his fist and kicked him, once again, right in the chest. This time, it sent him back flying, nearly ten feet. He immediately coughed up blood. He saw splotches of color in his vision, and felt immense pain. He could hardly breathe, let alone speak. He struggled to lift his head, to see Asuna standing in the doorway with a horrified look. The agent was slowly walking over to him. Surely he wasn't lucky enough to be saved twice in the same night. However, he was proven to be wrong as he heard a particularly loud gunshot come from the street behind him. Looking behind him, he saw a black car, Morpheus in the driver's seat, holding a large revolver.

"What are you waiting for, get in!" He heard Morpheus shout, but he was distracted by Asuna and Trinity running to his side.

"Are you okay?" They said simaltaneously.

He clutched at his chest as he managed to mutter the word, "No." Trinity picked him up. "Wait, Asuna, come with us." She nodded yes, and began to follow Trinity to the car. She laid him down in the seat and got in the passenger side. Asuna sat down next to him. She finally gathered the strength to speak.

"What just happened? Where have you been, and more importantly, where's my dad?"

Still holding his chest, Kirito answered. "Remember how you said you felt like you were dreaming, sometimes? That you couldn't wake up from it?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you're about to find out why. I can't prepare you for what's about to happen. All I can say is that you're going to wake up, and I'll meet you there." He slowly turned away. "As for your father... I'm sorry." She knew what that meant. She covered her mouth and shed a tear. "I know how you feel. Suguha's also gone."

"Alright we're here." Morpheus said to them. "Kirito, can you walk?"

"I'll make it. Asuna, follow us." He said as they stepped out of the car and walked towards the entrance of the same building Trinity took Kirito to. They went up the stairs and finally made it to the room, where the rest of the crew were waiting. "Morpheus, give her the pill. I don't think she really has the option at this point."

"Very well." He opened up the small container and handed her the red pill.

Kirito continued talking. "Asuna, sit down in that chair." She sat down as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "Just relax. This may hurt." She leaned back. After a few moments, Apoc looked up.

"Alright, got her." Kirito looked away as she screamed in pain for a brief second. He looked back, and she was completely gone.

"Does that mean she's out?" Kirito asked anxiously.

"Yes." Apoc answered.

Kirito asked another question. "So how do we get out?" As if on cue, a phone in the corner of the room started ringing.

Morpheus started speaking. "Trinity, you first."

Trinity walked towards the phone, and picked it up. Her body dissapeared with a small electric buzzing sound. One by one, the crew followed. They would hang up the phone, it would start ringing again, and another person would pick it up. Morpheus finally turned to Kirito. "You now. I'll go last." Kirito walked towards the ringing phone, and picked it up. His body went numb, and his eyes snapped shut.


	8. Chapter 8

Kirito opened his eyes. He jolted out of his chair as fast as he could. He turned to Tank and said, "Where is she?"

"We're getting her now. Come on." He followed Tank down into the lower part of the ship. Morpheus and Trinity were already there. He looked down through a large opening in the floor to see Asuna down in the waters below. It was just like when they unplugged him. But something wasn't right. The crane was moving too slowly, and she was sinking.

Kirito reacted almost instantly. He dove down into the water, feeling the cold hit him right away. Reaching blindly downward, he felt something brush against his hand. He grabbed for whatever it was, to feel what felt like a wrist. He brought her forward, wrapping his arm around her body. He swam upward, resurfacing and fumbling for the crane. He grabbed on, and felt his body being lifted out of the water. He was finally brought back up to the ship, freezing cold and soaking wet, with Asuna still in his arms.

She was barely conscious. "Wh- Where am I?"

With a sigh of relief that she was still alive, he said, "The real world." Just as he finished her eyes closed and she collapsed. He carried her back up into the ship and laid her down onto the bed, pulling the sheet over her body. He kissed her on the forehead as he turned to see Tank and the rest of the crew enter the room. "How long before she regains consciousness?"

Morpheus answered. "Anywhere from a few hours to several days."

"Alright. When do you think we can go back in to get the others?"

Tank replied. "I'd wait a day or two. That agent nearly cracked a few ribs. In fact, I'm surprised your not showing any pain." Kirito noticed the soreness right in the middle of his chest. "Also, that was a pretty brave move. Jumping down in there to get her. We're usually able to get them with no problems but there are a few rare occurrences where the person starts to collapse before we can grab them. When that happens they don't always make it." This scared him. To think that she was so close to dying.

"I'm just going to go get some rest." He just wanted to sleep. To try and forget about the fact that his mother and sister had just been killed right in front of him, and that he was so powerless to stop it.

He slowly walked his way to the bunk beds, falling in the one that was closest. Mouse was on one of the beds, Apoc on the bunk above him. Both were fast asleep. He drifted off and tried to think of anything but his sister.

Kirito awoke to see Trinity bringing in a tray that had a glass of water and a small bowl of the yellow sludge he'd seen some of the others eat. He realized then that he hadn't eaten much since he'd been here, but he never really felt hungry.

She set down the tray next to his bed. "You feeling okay?" She asked with her soft voice and light smile.

"Yeah. I just want to sleep a little while." He said drowsily.

"Look, about tonight... I never wanted that to happen. I just hope you can forgive me, even though it was my fault." She sounded like she was tearing up again.

"I forgive you. Just... I don't want to talk about it right now."

She stood up and walked towards the door. "Sorry, sleep well." She got into one of the beds behind him.

Kirito slowly stood up. He didn't really feel like sleeping. After all, he'd just slept for seventeen years. He looked into a mirror next to the door. His hair was slowly growing back in, about a half an inch now. He walked out the door and saw Cypher looking at the monitors and approached him.

"Whoa, Kirito... hey. You scared the hell outta me." He said with a light chuckle. "Care for a drink?" He held up a small mug with a clear liquid in it. "Dozer brews it."

"No thanks, I'm not old enough to-"

"Kid, it doesn't matter anymore. You want it?" He took a small sip. He almost spat it out. It was very strong and left him coughing. Cypher patted him on the back. "Good shit, huh? Good for two things, de-greasing engines and killing brain cells." Kirito couldn't help but laugh at this. Cypher leaned in towards him. "Hey, you know... you probably asking yourself something right now. I know because I've been asking myself since I got here."

"What's that?"

"Why, oh why, didn't I take the _blue_ pill?" They both laughed. "Anyways, has Morpheus even told you why you're here yet?"

"He mentioned it to me I think."

"Well he'll tell you tomorrow. I honestly don't know the whole story, so I guess I'm not the one to tell it." Kirito took another sip of alcohol.

"Hey, where's Dozer been? I haven't seen him since I met him."

"He usually just camps out near the engine, making sure everything runs smoothly. Anyways, you look like you need some rest." Kirito noticed his eyes felt heavy.

"Yeah, probably. Good night." He walked back into the bedroom, looking over at Asuna on the bed with all of those needles inside of her. He fell back into his bed and fell asleep after a few seconds.

Kirito woke up and got out of bed. Just outside the room was Morpheus, who looked as if he was walking over to wake him up.

"I need to tell you why we freed you. I felt that it couldn't wait any longer. Back when the Matrix was first created, there was a man born inside of it, who had the ability to remake the Matrix as he saw fit. He was named the One."

"So what does this have to do with me?"

"Because when he died, the Oracle prophesied his return, and that when he returned he would bring about the destruction of all the machines and free humanity. You're here because I believe that search is over. You are the One, Kirito." It honestly didn't surprise him after the other things Morpheus had told him, even though it probably should have.

"Why me? What makes me so special?"

"Because of what all has happened to you. I hope I don't bring about bad memories, but it was because of what you did in Sword Art Online." He thought for a moment. What had he done in SAO?

"Your reaction times were significantly higher than any other person in the game, and after looking at other reaction times of other people inside the Matrix, you were the highest."

"I really have the fastest reflexes out of every person alive?! I admit that is unusual, but why would that be enough to convince you?" He was beginning to doubt what Morpheus was saying.

"Because you revived yourself. When you fought your final battle in the game, to free everyone trapped inside, you should have died, but you somehow came back. As soon as I saw this, I knew." It made sense. He still didn't have any idea as to how he accomplished that. "We're taking you to see the Oracle soon. I suggest you get out your friends soon." Kirito couldn't help but think about what Morpheus had said about fate. Did he mean that no matter how much we try, a person cant' escape their fate? His thoughts were interrupted by Trinity.

"Asuna's awake." Kirito rushed over to the bed. Asuna was indeed awake.

"Hey, Asuna." Her face lit up the moment she saw him.

"Kirito! Er, I mean-"

"Don't worry about it." He took hold of her hand. "Do you think you can walk?"

"I guess. But... I'm..."

"I won't look if you don't want me to."

"Fine." She slowly stood up and steadied herself, still holding on the bedsheet to cover herself. Kirito and the others looked away. He heard her walk into the changing room. A few moments later she walked out. She had put on a black sweater and jeans. Despite the cold metal floor, she hadn't put any shoes on. Kirito looked to Morpheus.

"Morpheus, I need you to show her what the Matrix is. Asuna, come over here." He lead her to one of the seats and she slowly laid back in it. He held her hand. "This is going to hurt a little." Tank inserted the plug into her head. She winced at the pain and then her eyes snapped shut.

He waited for nearly ten minutes. During this time he spoke to Tank, still looking at the three monitors. "What exactly is that? All those lines of code."

"It's the Matrix."

"Do you always have to look at it encoded?"

"Yep. There's way too much information to decipher it. I'm the only one here that can actually read all of it. Took me years, but I finally got it. Alright, Asuna's almost done." He walked over to her chair and prepared to take the plug out. Her eyes opened, and he quickly pulled it out. She nearly jumped out of her chair and started shouting.

"No! I don't believe it! I don't believe it..." She looked like she was about to faint. He rushed to her side and put his hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay. I know it's hard to accept at first but it's the truth." She slowly began to calm down, and at the same time began to start crying. She hugged Kirito tightly, still crying.

"What about Yui? What about everyone else? What about my parents?" He hadn't thought of Yui. He couldn't think of how much he'd start missing her after a while. He tried his best to comfort her.

"Just rest." She followed him to the bedroom and laid down. Trinity came in.

"Kirito, we've got 12 hours until we go see the Oracle. Until then we're going to have to get as many of your friends as possible."

"Then let's start now." He looked back at Asuna, kissing her on the cheek. "I have to go for a little while. I'm getting Sinon, Klein, Liz, and Silica if I can."

"Just be careful."

"I will." He walked back and got into his chair as Trinity strapped him in. He felt Tank plug him in, and closed his eyes, ready to see his friends again.


	9. Chapter 9

Kirito looked around him. He was back inside the Matrix, once again a few hundred meters from his school. It was a crisp, early morning. Trinity, Cypher and Morpheus appeared behind him.

Trinity asked him, "Who are we getting now, and how many are we getting?"

"Four more." He'd been thinking about who to free first now that he was back inside. "Sinon first, she lives about a block from here, we can walk." He'd chosen Sinon first mostly because she was nearby. Klein and the others lived several blocks away. He couldn't help but think of how she would react, mostly because she had a fragile mind after all that had happened to her in the last few months. But he had to get her. He cared about her too much.

They all started walking rather quickly, following Kirito. He took the time to notice what he was wearing. He wore a completely black trench coat that went all the way down to his ankles. He couldn't help but fondly remember the outfit he wore back in SAO.

But there were other things he had to focus on. He was trying to save peoples' lives. He looked back at the others. "Alright, when we get there, just let me go up and talk to her. She might not be okay with me coming to her house with a few strangers asking her to come with us." He paused for a moment. "Wait... what about agents? Won't they be here?"

Trinity answered his question. "There are other hackers inside the Matrix. Other members of the resistance. There are only the three agents. They can't possibly hunt us all at once." Kirito looked up at Sinon's house.

"This is it." He walked forward and knocked on her door. He waited several moments, and she finally came to the door, looking half asleep.

She seemed surprised to see him. "Kirito?" Her eyes opened wider as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Where have you been the last couple of days? And... Suguha..." As soon as she mentioned this he felt a knot in his throat. He tried to stop her from saying any more.

"I know... just don't mention it. If you want to find out where I've been, then I need you to come with me. This is really important." He tried to look as serious as he could.

"What is it?" She slowly stepped out the door.

"Just follow me. I'll try to explain on the way." She stepped out completely and started following him as Trinity, Morpheus and Cypher approached them.

"Sinon, this is Trinity, Cypher, and Morpheus."

She nervously looked back at him. "Who are they?"

"They're friends." He looked back at her. "Look, what is about happen will scare you. There is no way around it. But once it's over with..." He tried to think of the right words. "Lets just say that you'll look at the world a little differently." They were almost to the building. "Just know that I'll be there waiting for you."

She tried to think of a response. "What exactly is going to happen?"

"It's really hard to explain."

She thought for a moment. "Why me? Why not Asuna?"

"I've already gotten her. But... I care about you too. I had to get you out." This took her off guard. Kirito wasn't usually the one to say emotional things like that.

"So... what exactly am I in for?" She said as they entered the building and started up the stairs.

"Morpheus will hand you a pill. You need to take it, and I really can't explain what it's like from there. Other than that you'll wake up someplace... different." They entered the room. Morpheus walked over to her.

"So, you are Sinon?"

"Yes."

"Then I need to you to take this pill." He handed her the red pill and she began to swallow it. "Have you ever had a dream that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake up from that dream? How would you know the difference between the real world... and the dream world?" She sat down in the chair, looking confused.

Before she could speak, her body slowly disappeared, signifying that she had been unplugged.

"Mission successful!" He heard Apoc exclaim from the back of the room. Apparently the others had gotten in to the Matrix to help.

Trinity started speaking. "Who are we getting next?"

"First, what about Sinon?"

Trinity reached to her earpiece. "Tank, how is she doing?" He heard Tank's voice reply.

"Bringing her up now. Everything's going good."

"Good. We'll be a little while longer."

"Got it." Trinity looked back at Kirito.

"Who are we getting?"

Kirito immediately replied. "Klein. But after this, I'll have to go to my school to get Liz and Silica." He hadn't even realized he'd been using their names from ALO. He probably just started because they called him Kirito. "We'll have to use a car from here on out."

"We can use my motorcycle." Kirito hadn't even noticed that Morpheus and the others had left.

"Lets go then." He said, already walking out the door. They returned to the lobby of the building and got out on her motorcycle. Kirito thought for a moment. Since it was early morning, Klein would probably be headed to school. "Head for my school. Klein should be almost there by now." She twisted the throttle and they took off. On the short drive to the school, Kirito thought of where Sinon and Asuna were. He imagined they were back on the ship, getting Sinon to the healing bed. Asuna was probably worried sick.

They arrived at the school. Kirito jumped off and started running around frantically, searching for him. He finally saw him walking into the school building. He rushed after him, finally catching up to him. "Klein!"

Klein looked back to see Kirito running at him. "Kirito?! Where the hell have you been?!"

"It doesn't matter now. I just need you to follow me."

"Okay, but only if you tell me what the hell you've been doing along the way!"

"I will, just come on." He led Klein out of the school to Trinity, who had somehow gotten hold of a car in those few short minutes. "How did you get this car?"

"Hot wired it. Now come on." Kirito got in the passenger's side, Klein in the back seat.

"Now, Kirito, what's going on?" It seemed Klein never ran out of energy.

"We're taking you to this building. There, I need you to take a pill."

Klein paused a moment. "What for?"

"So you can wake up. It's really hard to explain, but you will get answers, just not now." They pulled up next to the building and walked in. On the stairs Klein continued to bombard Kirito with questions.

"What all will happen?"

"I can't really explain it. You just have to experience it for yourself."

"Where's Asuna and the others in all of this?"

"I've already gotten Sinon and Asuna. Now come on, we're almost there."

They walked down the hallway and into the room. Apoc and Switch were already there, getting ready to unplug him. Trinity handed him the pill, which he hesitantly took. He sat back in the chair, not saying a word. "So, Klein. You're going to wake up, and you won't know what's going on. Just know that Asuna will be there waiting for you. I'll be back a little later." Before Klein had time to respond, his eyes closed, he looked like he was about to scream in pain for a split second, and then his body disappeared. He looked back at Trinity.

"Alright, two more. We should be able to get them both at the same time." Knowing them, they would be hanging out in the cafeteria like they always were. It had to be at least thirty minutes before school officially started. They walked back down and into the car. Trinity got on her earpiece.

"Tank, you got him?"

"I got him." He heard Tank reply.

They sat in silence on the way back to his school. When they finally arrived, he ran to the cafeteria. There was Liz and Silica, right where they always sat. He ran right over to them, a few other students looking surprised at Kirito's return. The moment they saw him, their eyes widened. Liz was the first to talk. "Kirito? Where have you been?! Suguha and your mom got killed!" He shot her a look as if to say, _Don't start._

He grabbed Liz by the arm and motioned for Silica to follow. "Guys, I need you to follow me. Just don't ask questions, what is happening now is more important than you could imagine." They did what he asked, and they hardly spoke a word on the way out. They got into the car. Kirito looked back at them.

Silica asked him a question. "Where are we going?"

"Yeah!" Liz chimed in.

"We're going to a building a few blocks from here. There, you two will take a red pill. Afterwards, you'll wake up. I really don't have any way to explain what happens after that. Just know that I'll be there on the other side waiting." They stopped next to the building and once again walked towards the room. Kirito was just glad he'd gotten them to be quiet on the way there. Silica took the pill first. They waited a few moments, and sure enough, she disappeared.

Trinity started speaking again. "We'll have to wait a few minutes. It takes time for them to move from one place in the fields to the other." Just the sheer mention of the fields of the pods made Kirito shudder. Liz finally took the pill and sat down, looking ready for what was next.

"And... bingo!" Apoc shouted, and Liz was unplugged. Apoc and Switch were the first ones to leave via the phone in the corner of the room. Trinity looked back at Kirito.

"We have a few hours left until we take you to see the Oracle. I suggest that when you get back, you get some rest. Agents will be investigating this place later." She walked towards the phone and picked it up. Her body disappeared, Kirito set the phone back down on the hook, and surely enough, it began to ring once again. Kirito sighed as he picked up the phone and brought it to his ear.

Just as he felt his mind start to be unplugged, he calmly said, "I'm coming back for you guys."


	10. Chapter 10

Kirito opened his eyes to see Asuna, looking down at him and holding onto his hand. He felt Tank unplug him and Asuna unstrapped his arms and legs.

"You're back, I've missed you." She said softly with a light smile.

"I was only gone for an hour or so." He said as he stood up.

"Sinon woke up while you were gone, but she's back asleep now. Whenever Morpheus explained the Matrix to her... she didn't really take it very well." He'd worried about how she would react, and apparently she reacted just like he'd expected.

He paused a moment. "Is everyone else out?"

"Yes, but we had to use a few extra beds." He figured that. He walked back to the bedroom to see Liz and Silica in two of the beds, their bodies covered with white bedsheets. Sinon was awake, although turned on her side, staring at the wall.

"What made you think I want this?" Sinon said coldly. "Why do you have to be so damn selfish sometimes? You didn't realize that maybe, I didn't want a part of this? Maybe, I would have been perfectly fine with staying back with my family? But no, you just had to bring me into this hell, just so you wouldn't be as lonely, even though you already brought your own bitch into this place." Kirito stood there, shocked at what she had just said. In the few months he had known her, she had been hostile to him many times, but not like this. She had never tried to say things so harmful, let alone involving Asuna.

"Sinon... I-"

"You what?!" She turned to face him, tears running down her face. "You're a selfish bastard?! You think that saying you like me, even though you already have a girlfriend, justifies this shit?!" He stood there in silence, trying to think of something he could say back. "I hope you're fucking happy now!"

"Well I'm sorry!" Kirito was getting angry with her as well. "Maybe I am selfish, maybe I brought you here unwillingly, and maybe you were better off living in a damn pod playing essentially a video game! There, is that the apology you were looking for?!" Sinon looked at him like he was a different person. She backed up slightly. He had to say something, fast. "Look, I'm sorry that I brought you into this." He had toned down his voice. "I just... really care about you. I love Asuna and all, but I don't know if I could make it without one of my closest friends. I'm sorry." He was looking down at the floor, holding back tears. Sinon slowly walked towards him.

Kirito jumped in surprise when she hugged him. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything like that to you." She released. "Just... give me some time." She laid back down in her bed. Kirito walked back out of the room, everyone looking at him.

Trinity was the first to speak. "What was that about?"

"She's just a little scared, that's all. She'll be okay."

Morpheus spoke. "You and Asuna go to see the Oracle in about three hours. It will take at least one hour to get there once we're inside."

Kirito replied. "Has she done combat training yet?"

Asuna walked towards him with a grin on her face. "Want me to show you?"

Kirito smiled back. "Sure, if you can keep up with me."

She was already headed for one of the seats. "Oh I will." Kirito also started for his chair. Tank strapped them in, and before he knew it, he was back inside the same place where he fought Morpheus. They were dressed in the same martial arts robes as before. They took their stances, and Asuna was the first to attack. She threw a punch, which Kirito dodged and tried to kick back, but she moved just out of reach before it hit. She jumped what must have been nearly two meters into the air and kicked at him three times in a quick succession, although he blocked all of them. She landed and he tried roundhouse kick her, although she jumped above and kicked him in the chest, knocking him backwards. Kirito anticipated her next attack. She threw another punch at him, and he sidestepped, putting himself in the perfect position for an attack. He kicked her backwards, and tried to follow up with another kick, only she caught his leg and kicked his other out from beneath him. He landed on the ground and she stopped her last punch mere inches away from his face.

"Not bad." He said as she helped him up.

"I think we both know that that's an understatement." They both smiled at this. She had hit hard, and he was impressed. This could have been her first time, after all. He didn't know if she had sparred with Morpheus earlier.

"Did you fight with Morpheus earlier?"

"No, but I did spar with Trinity a little." He realized he hadn't really seen Trinity fight. Either way, Asuna had just beaten him in a fight.

"Anyways, I'm probably gonna go back to the ship and rest a little while. I haven't slept much since I got here." Kirito looked up at the ceiling. "Hey Tank, you can unplug us now." He felt his eyes snap shut as Tank did exactly that. He unstrapped Kirito and then did the same with Asuna. Kirito walked over to the bedroom and laid down, finally falling asleep.

He awoke to Tank entering the bedroom and clapping his hands. "Hey, lets go you two. You gotta leave now if you want to make good time." Kirito got up and saw Asuna sleeping in the bunk above him. Somehow she hadn't woken up when Tank came in. He nudged her shoulder and whispered her name. She slowly opened her eyes.

"What?" She said as she jumped down to the floor.

"We're leaving. It's time." He noticed that he was still half asleep himself. She sighed and they approached their seats. Tank strapped him in and he Kirito looked over at Trinity. "Where exactly are we going?"

"New York City. The Oracle lives in an apartment there." Asuna came over and kissed him on the lips before she sat down and Tank strapped her in. He plugged in Asuna first. He walked over to Kirito, who was staring at the ceiling.

Trinity spoke one last time to him. "Just wait for us when we get there." He felt the pain of being plugged in, and he felt his mind entering the Matrix.


	11. Chapter 11

Kirito looked around. He was in a small, mostly brick room with mold running down the walls. In the middle of the room was a small wooden table that had a phone laying on it. In the corner was Asuna, standing there waiting for him. He couldn't help but notice what she wore. She wore white pants and shoes as well as a long white coat that stopped just below her knees. He wore a slightly different variation of the coat he wore a few nights ago. Trinity and Morpheus materialized in the room almost simultaneously. Cypher and the others came in right after.

"Let's go. Shouldn't keep her waiting." Morpheus said as he walked out the door into a small alley. They all followed him out to two awaiting cars. Cypher, Apoc, Switch and Mouse all got into one, while Kirito, Asuna, Morpheus and Trinity got into the other. As they got in and rounded the corner out to the street, Kirito noticed that he could see Times Square about one block away. Morpheus continued talking. "A few words of advice before you two meet her, be honest. She knows more than you could imagine. She is very old; she's been with us since the beginning of the resistance."

Kirito couldn't help but ask, "What exactly happens when we see her?"

"She will simply tell you the path that lies ahead, whether you understand it, or not."

"What does that mean?" Asuna asked him.

"She can be very vague sometimes."

Kirito asked back, "What did she tell you?"

"That I will find the One."

Kirito leaned back in his seat. "How much further?"

"About ten minutes." Trinity answered.

During this he held Asuna's hand. She still had a look of disbelief on her face, as if she was still taking in the fact that they were inside a computer program. They finally arrived at what appeared to be a run-down apartment. Morpheus and Trinity stepped out. "Come on, we're almost late." Trinity said. They entered the lobby and started up a spiral staircase. On the way, Kirito noticed a small black cat walking across one of the corridors. They stopped on the sixteenth floor, and walked down into a hallway. Morpheus stopped to look at him.

"Asuna, you go first, just walk in when you are ready." He gestured at the door to his left. "We will be out here waiting." Morpheus and Trinity turned and walked into the room on the opposite side. Asuna took hold of his hand and turned to face him.

"Kirito... I'm scared."

"Of what?"

"Losing you. We're not safe anywhere in here... and I'm not too sure we're still safe outside of here." She paused for several moments and tilted her head downward slightly. "You're all I have left. And..." He could tell she was tearing up. "Do you remember several years ago back in SAO? When I said I would... you know... if you died?" He remembered it all too clearly. "Do you know what's changed since then?" He nodded his head no. "Nothing." They embraced and shared a deep, passionate kiss.

"Asuna, I don't care what it takes. I will make sure that you live to see the end of this." She looked up at him.

"I hope we can both make it."

"We will." She let go of him and reached for the doorknob. She opened the door and slowly entered, shutting the door behind her. It was a small apartment. There was a small living room, a bedroom, and a very small kitchen. Inside of the kitchen was a middle-aged woman, sitting down at a small table and watching an oven.

Asuna approached her. "Hello?"

"Yes, darling?" She spoke with a soft, almost motherly tone.

"You must be the Oracle."

"Bingo." She held up her finger, still looking into the oven. "Now I bet you're thinking about what I'm gonna say to you."

"I was wondering."

"You're his girlfriend, aren't you?" She slipped on a pair of oven mitts as the timer was about to reach zero. She turned to face Asuna.

"Yes ma'am."

"I'm just gonna say what I have to say. You're willing to give up anything for him, right?"

Asuna hesitated. "Yes."

The Oracle smiled. "Well, something is going to happen soon, and he's going to need your help." This caught her by surprise.

"Kirito?"

"Yes. You see, you two share a bond more special than either of you realize. It's this bond that's going to save him. You'll know when the time is right, and without even realizing it, you'll have saved his life." She pulled the cookies out of the oven and placed them on top of her stove. "That's really all I have to say."

"So... I'm going to save his life?"

"Yes, and soon. Now you can go out and tell him he can come on in, but don't tell him what I just told you, and everything will be fine. I'm done. That's it."

"...Alright." She stood up and walked back out the door. She glanced at Kirito, who'd been waiting right next to the door. "She said you can go on in." Without saying a word, he walked on in and saw the Oracle sitting down.

"Hey there, kiddo." She spoke with the same motherly tone.

"Are you the Oracle?" He asked, trying to sound as formal as he could.

"Indeed I am." She paused a moment. "Now then, let's get to it. Open your mouth, say 'aahhh'."

Reluctantly, he did what she told him. "Aaaahhh..."

She suddenly looked perplexed. "Well, right now I'm supposed to say something, and that something is, 'ooh, now that's interesting'. But then you ask..." She gestured at him.

"What is?"

"Well, I've got news for you, kiddo. You're not the One. You've got the gift though; maybe in your next life." This caught him off guard.

"...My next life?"

"Oh, don't worry about it. You'll understand it soon enough."

"So... what all does this mean for me?"

"Well, Morpheus believes that you are the One so blindly, that he is willing to die for you. And you'll have to make a choice soon; between your life, and his." She stood up and took a cookie off of the platter. "Poor old Morpheus."

"But wait... I thought you told him that he would find the One."

"Well its like I just said, you'll get it eventually." She sat back down. "Sorry kiddo, it just wasn't meant to be. I do hope things turn out good for you though, I really do. That's about it for now. Care for a cookie?" She held out the cookie in front of him. He hesitantly took it and slowly walked towards the door. Morpheus standing there, waiting.

"Morpheus... the Oracle told me that-"

"What was said was for you, and for you alone. Just know this, there's a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path." Kirito took the last bite out of the cookie, trying to make sense of what all he'd just been told. In his next life? What did that mean? And how soon was he going to have to make his choice? They walked back down the stairs, Kirito holding onto Asuna's hand, dreading the moment he would have to let go. On the way back down, Kirito noticed what appeared to be the same black cat walking across the corridor.

"Huh, deja vu."


	12. Chapter 12

They all turned to look at Kirito. "What did you just say?" Trinity asked with an urgent tone.

"I... just had a little deja vu."

"What happened?"

"Earlier I saw this cat walk across the hallway down there, and I just saw it again this time."

"Was it the same cat?"

"Maybe. I honestly don't know. What's wrong?"

"A deja vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It means that the machines have changed something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know." She spoke into her earpiece. "Everyone, check your surroundings and make sure that no one's coming." He heard them all say one by one.

"All clear where I am." He heard Cypher say.

"Were fine up in here." Apoc said.

He noticed Mouse still hadn't said anything.

Trinity yelled into her earpiece. "Mouse, get out of the-" She was cut off by a multitude of gunshots that sounded like they were coming from a few floors above. There had to have been at least ten weapons firing. The gunfire suddenly stopped. "Hide, now." Trinity whispered, and she took off running down the hallway to their left. She stopped and entered the room at the end, the rest of them not too far behind. None of them spoke a single word as they heard a large number of footsteps coming from the stairs. Thankfully, none of them came down the hallway. The footsteps slowly faded out until there was silence. "Move, now." Trinity opened up the door and poked her head out, looking to see if there were any more people left. There wasn't, and they all started sprinting up the stairs to where they heard the gunfire. Kirito was the first to enter. He saw a few large cases of ammunition, with Mouse's dead body, riddled with bullets, laying in the center of the room, two machine guns in his hands. Apoc and Switch came in a few moments later.

"Damn it." Switch quietly said as she knelt down next to his corpse.

"What did they change?" Apoc said from the back of the room. Trinity walked towards two closed curtains and pulled them open. Instead of a window being there, it was a brick wall.

"This. Our way out." Trinity said with a grim look on her face. "Where's Cypher?"

Apoc replied, "I thought he met up with you."

Trinity got back on her earpiece. "Cypher, you out there?"

He heard Cypher's voice reply. "Yeah, just barely made it out. I'm headed back through the alleys."

"We'll meet you on the other side." Trinity took her finger off the earpiece. "We need to find a new way out, and fast. Anyone see anything?"

Switch replied, "How about in there?" She pointed at a small bathroom on the other side of the room. There was a large crack running down the wall.

"Down through the walls?" Kirito asked.

Trinity responded, "It's our best bet. No time to explore any options; Agents will probably be here to investigate any minute now." Kirito felt a chill go down his spine. Trinity walked over to the wall, and knocked a massive hole in it with one kick.

Apoc grabbed Kirito's shoulder. "Wait, before you go, take this." He handed him a pistol, and to Kirito's surprise, it was a Five-Seven. "I hope the Oracle gave you some good news." He turned and slid his way down a few feet inside the wall. Kirito followed, Asuna right behind him. They slowly inched their way down what felt like several floors. However, they completely froze when they heard footsteps from right behind the wall. Kirito felt his foot slip, knocking a few particles of dust off, some of them landing on Apoc's head. He heard him struggle to suppress a cough. He held his hand up to cover his mouth, only to sneeze a few seconds afterwards. The footsteps stopped.

"They're in the walls!" He heard a man exclaim from behind the wall, and before he knew it, bullet holes were appearing only a few inches from his body, accompanied by the deafening sound an assault rifle firing. He held up his pistol and desperately tried to fire back. The gunfire stopped. For a moment there was silence, untill a hand punched through the wall and grabbed Kirito by the collar, who was grasping for a pipe right behind him. He could make out that it was an Agent, but even more unnerving, was the fact that it was the one who killed his sister. He heard Morpheus shout from above him and break through the wall, landing right on top of the Agent. Morpheus turned to look back, still struggling to hold the Agent down.

"Go! You must get Kirito out of here, he's all that matters!" He heard Morpheus shout as the Agent punched him once, just below the collarbone, and the sheer force knocked back up on to his feet and into the wall just in front of Kirito. The Agent rose to his feet.

"Morpheus, don't!" Kirito desperately tried to warn him. He felt Trinity grab him by his ankle.

"Come on!" She exclaimed as she yanked him down, and the next thing he knew, he was trying to grab on to something as he fell at least thirty feet before coming to an opening and landing with a large cloud of dust. He heard more gunfire as he saw Switch and Apoc shooting down a squad of police that had apparently been waiting in the basement. "Keep moving." She reached for her earpiece. "Tank, what's the fastest way out of here?"

"There's a door to your left. Go up, and then you'll be back in the alleys. You should easily be able to find your way back from there."

Kirito reacted instantly. He grabbed Asuna's arm and started running, Trinity and the others right behind him. He recognized where they were. He looked to his right, to see a small courtyard at the end of the alley, with the same building they had arrived in straight ahead. As soon as he started running again he felt a warm liquid start to cover the hand that was holding onto Asuna's. He let go and looked at his hand just as he opened the door. Blood. Had he been shot? He didn't feel any pain. He looked at Asuna as soon as Switch closed the door. In her right shoulder, there what appeared to be a bullet hole, with a trail of blood running down her arm. He rushed to her side. "You okay?" He gestured at the wound.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." The phone in the middle of the room started to ring. Trinity answered, but instead of dissapearing, they could hear Cypher's voice speak.

"Hello, Trinity."

"Cypher? Where's Tank?"

He heard Cypher breathe heavily. "I don't think we'll be hearing from them anytime soon." Trinity started to turn pale.

"You... you killed them." Kirito felt like he had just been hit with a harpoon. Did that mean that his friends were dead, too? After all he'd done to try and save them?

He heard Cypher sigh. "I'm really sorry it had to turn out this way Trin, I really am. You're a beautiful woman, you know that? And for the longest time... I thought I was in love with you." There was an eerie silence in the room. "But I just decided I couldn't take it. I'm tired Trin, I'm tired of all this. I'm tired of eating the same god damned goop every day. I'm tired of living in that hellhole of a ship. But most of all... I'm tired of that jack off Morpheus and all of his bullshit. All I ever do is what he tells me, and he never says thanks, he never says please, he just orders me around like a slave. And if I have to choose between that and the Matrix, I choose the Matrix."

Trinity immediately responded. "The Matrix isn't real." She said coldly.

"Oh really? Well, I think that the Matrix can be more real than this world."

"You can't go back!" Trinity was on the verge of tears.

"Oh yes I can. I struck a deal with the Agents. I give them Morpheus, they get my body back in a power plant. And the best part is, when I wake up, I won't remember a god damned thing."

"Damn you Cypher!" Apoc screamed at him.

"Hey, don't hate me you guys, I'm just a messenger. But over there, you have to watch Apoc die."

Apoc looked at Trinity. "No, don't-" He was cut short as his body fell to the floor.

"No!" Switch shouted as she knelt down next to Apoc's body.

Cypher started to speak again. "Oh yeah, if you have anything terribly important to say to Switch, I suggest you do it." Switch slowly looked up at Trinity.

"Not like this... not like this." Those were her last words as her body fell limp and she collapsed to the floor. Trinity still stood in silence.

"Like I said, I'm just a messenger. And right now, I'm gonna prove it to you. Hand the phone to Asuna." Trinity slowly gave the phone to Asuna. "Look at him. Look down, into his big, pretty eyes, and tell me. Do you really think he's the One?"

Asuna stood in silence for a few seconds. "Yes."

"Ha! Now that's funny. You really think that scrawny little crybaby sack of shit can save anything?! He couldn't even save his own mother and sister! Or your parents! Oh wait, that's right, you just sat there yourself, didn't you?"

A tear ran down Asuna's cheek. "Shut up..."

There was a long pause where Cypher said nothing. He finally spoke again, but this time, in a much more afraid tone. "No! I don't believe it!" His last words were interrupted by a loud crackle noise followed by the sound of a body landing on metal. He heard the familiar voice of Tank speak into the phone.

"Operator." Trinity jerked the phone out of Asuna's hand, who still had a blank stare with tears running down her face.

"Tank! Thank God, get us out of here!" The phone went dead, and Trinity hung it up. It started to ring again moments after. Trinity answered, and dissapeared just as normal. It started to ring again just as Kirito hung it up. He handed the phone to Asuna.

"You go first." She took the phone and put it to her ear, vanishing just as she did. Kirito breathed a sigh of relief. But he had to get back. Had Cypher really killed his friends? The phone began to ring again. Kirito prayed that they would still be okay as he felt his body slowly vanish.


	13. Chapter 13

"Are they okay?" Kirito nearly shouted as he sprung up out of his chair the second he got a chance. "Are they still alive?" Trinity placed a hand on his shoulder.

"They're fine. They were still asleep, so I guess Cypher didn't bother." She had a tear running down her cheek. Asuna walked over to him; a blood-stained cloth wrapped around her shoulder.

"You feeling okay?" He said softly to Asuna while looking at the wound.

"It hurts, but I'll be okay." She answered. Kirito looked at Tank, who had a gaping wound just below the left side of his ribs; blood running down his shirt.

"What happened?"

"That bastard zapped me with the lightning rifle." Tank said as he gestured down towards the oddly shaped gun he had noticed when he first arrived.

"How's Morpheus?" Kirito hesitantly asked.

"The Agents captured him. Right now they're trying to access his mind. Every Captain of every ship is given access codes to Zion's mainframe, permission to enter the city, and if the machines got hold of that kind of information, then humanity is done for."

"What can we do?"

"Not much. The only way we can be sure that they don't get the codes, is if we kill him." Trinity looked over at Tank with a shocked look on her face.

"Kill him? Kill Morpheus, after all that just happened, you're saying that we let someone else die?"

"It's the only way." Tank walked over to where Morpheus' body was seated. He placed his hand on the plug that ran into his head, ready to pull it. He placed his other hand on Morpheus' shoulder. "Morpheus, I'm sorry. You were so much more than a mentor to us. You were... a father." He clenched the plug, and looked ready to pull it out.

"Wait." Kirito suddenly said.

"Kirito, this has to be done." Tank whispered.

"No, it doesn't. Morpheus was ready to lay down his life because he believed I was something that I wasn't. The Oracle told me that I would have to soon choose between saving myself or saving Morpheus."

"That can't be." Asuna said, grabbing his hand.

"I'm not the One. The Oracle told me that, too. But if Morpheus is doing this because of his beliefs, then I'm doing this. Tank, get ready to send me in. Asuna, stay out of this." She nodded.

Tank tried to stop him. "Kirito, you can't. Those are three agents holding him. This is suicide."

"I have to try." He said as Trinity started preparing herself to join him. "No, Trinity, you're not coming with-"

She cut him off. "Let me tell you what I believe. I believe that Morpheus matters more to me than he does to you. And since I am the ranking officer on this ship, I also believe that if you don't like that, then you can go straight to hell."

"Fine." He took a seat as Tank strapped him in. He felt the sensation of being plugged in, and he found himself inside a completely empty, white room. He felt an earpiece in his left ear. He reached up to press a button on it as Trinity stood by his side. Tank started speaking.

"Alright, what do you need? Besides a miracle..." Tank muttered.

"Guns. Lots of guns." Kirito said confidently. He saw rows upon rows of various weapons appear on shelves in front and behind him. He started grabbing as many guns as he could fit into the harness he was wearing. Trinity did the same.

"Kirito, no one has ever attempted anything like this."

"I know, and that's also why I know this is going to work." He grabbed two MP5 SMGs and loaded them. He looked down at all the equipment he was wearing. He had at least five pistols, four small SMGs, and the two MP5s. Trinity was slipping what appeared to be a bomb into a briefcase. He reached back up to his earpiece. "We're ready." He saw the room slowly transform into the same small room that they started out in when they went to see the Oracle. The two of them rushed outside to an awaiting car. Trinity floored the gas pedal, and started driving to a tall building.

"He's there. Make it to the roof."

"Got it." Trinity stopped the car and Kirito walked towards the front entrance, everyone nearby staring at him as he was wearing all black and just got out of a car that was speeding through a street. He entered to see several guards next to an elevator with a metal detector, several large stone support beams also inside the room. He stepped through the metal detector, the device going off immediately. One of the guards stepped forward.

"Please remove any metallic items you are carrying, keys, loose change-" Kirito opened up his coat, revealing all of the guns he had loaded and ready. "Holy shit-" Kirito once again stopped the guard by hitting him firmly in the center of the chest with the palm of his hand, sending him backwards. He pulled out the MP5s, aimed them at either of his sides, and fired, killing most of the remaining guards and giving him enough time to crouch behind one of the support beams.

He heard the familiar click of a handgun as he also heard the guard nearly shout, "Backup! Send backup!" He glanced to his left to see Trinity walking in and shooting the last guard. They both began walking towards the elevator, Trinity carrying the briefcase that supposedly had the bomb still inside of it. They entered, and Trinity began arming the bomb as Kirito opened up the escape hatch on the roof of the elevator. Trinity soon joined him. He attached his harness to the cable of the elevator, and aiming one of his pistols at the pulley that connected the cable to the rest of the elevator. He heard footsteps start to enter the lobby below. Kirito grabbed Trinity around the waist and fired. He felt his body being jerked upwards as he felt the rush of the wind against his face. He heard the sound of an explosion below; definitely the bomb going off. He arrived at the top of the elevator shaft and crawled his way up to the entrance to the roof, Trinity right behind him. He opened up the door, seeing a helicopter and a multitude of S.W.A.T. officers. They immediately opened fire. Kirito rolled out of the way, shooting several of the men in the process, Trinity doing the same. He rushed one of the officers, evading the incoming fire as he grabbed the hand guard of the weapon, flicking the end of it upwards, sending the stock into his opponent's jaw. He continued to fire at the other officers, using the one he had just taken the gun from as somewhat of a meat shield. Trinity killed the last two officers by kicking the gun out of one's hand, grabbing his knife, snapping his neck, and throwing the knife into the forehead of the last officer.

Kirito tossed down the gun he had in his hands, Trinity walking over to him. She came to an abrupt stop as Kirito heard footsteps behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to see an Agent. He drew two more of his pistols, turned, and started shooting as fast as he could, but the Agent easily dodged all of the bullets. He threw down the two weapons, shouting for Trinity to help as the Agent drew his gun and took aim.

Everything happened all at once. It was as if time had slowed as the Agent pulled the trigger, sending the first bullet flying at him. Kirito saw it was coming at his left shoulder, so he dodged. The Agent continued to fire, Kirito continuing to dodge, and each bullet coming closer than the last. The Agent fired a seventh and eighth shot, one of them grazing his right thigh, the other grazing his left shoulder. He felt his body hit the ground. He looked back at the Agent, not surprised at all by what had just happened. The Agent reloaded his pistol, and started to walk towards him. However, Kirito heard another gunshot of in the distance as the Agent's head jerked forward, and his body fell to the ground. Kirito stood up and tried to make out what it was that shot. To his surprise, Sinon was laying down with a sniper rifle at the edge of a skyscraper a few blocks away. He couldn't clearly see her, but he was sure that it was Sinon.

"How did you do that? I've never seen anyone move that fast." He heard Trinity ask from behind him. He glanced at the two marks on his leg and shoulder.

"It wasn't fast enough." He glanced over at the helicopter. "Can you fly that thing?"

"I learned a few years ago on a mission." She said as she opened up the cockpit and stepped in. Kirito got into the side of it and loaded the minigun on it. Trinity raised the helicopter off the landing pad and flew down next to the building, right where Kirito could see in. Morpheus was there, sitting down, handcuffed to a small chair, his body looking badly beaten. Kirito opened fire with the minigun, shredding through the glass and one of the Agents. The other simply ran into the other room, although Kirito was fairly sure he hit a few shots on him. The remaining Agent pulled out his pistol and desperately tried to shoot back. Kirito saw a few bullets whiz past his body, although the minigun simply sawed the Agent in half. He had somehow managed to not hit Morpheus once.

"Come on, Morpheus, get up." He muttered as he saw Morpheus break free of the handcuffs and stand up from the chair, and began running towards the awaiting helicopter. Just as he did however, he saw a few more bullets fly through the wall, one hitting Morpheus in the ankle. "He's not going to make it!" He shouted as he attached his harness to a hook next to the door of the helicopter, and leaped out, reaching for Morpheus. He felt Morpheus grab hold of his right forearm as he held on to Morpheus with as strong a grip as he could manage. The helicopter leaned forward, and started to ascend. Two more gunshots rang out however, as he glanced up to see two holes with fuel leaking out. Trinity got them to where Sinon had been waiting, and allowed Morpheus to drop from a safe distance onto the rooftop.

The blades on the helicopter stopped spinning as the vehicle began to plummet down below. "Damn it!" Kirito said as he took hold of the rope that still connected him to the helicopter. His body lurched forward, desperately trying to use his legs to slow himself down. He found himself at the edge of the building as he saw Trinity holding onto the rope, out of the helicopter, while the helicopter itself continuing to fall down and impacting near the base of a building across the street and erupting into a fiery explosion. Kirito finally pulled her up to the top of the building. Morpheus and Sinon coming to his side.

Morpheus spoke, "Well Trinity, do you believe it now?" She smiled back.

Kirito turned to face Morpheus. "Morpheus, the Oracle told me I-"

"She told you exactly what you needed to hear. Nothing more. Do you understand it now?" It was starting to make sense. Could she have told him this in order to essentially give him motivation? Or was it simply another process that would ultimately lead to him being the One?

"We need to get out of here, now." Sinon said.

Kirito reached up to his earpiece that he almost forgot he had. "Tank, find us a way out."

"There's a subway down below with a payphone. That should be your quickest way out." Kirito looked down off the edge of the building to see the entrance to a subway.

"How do we get down there?" Sinon said.

"We jump." Morpheus replied. "You just have to know that you'll land fine." And with that, Morpheus leaped off the building, and after a few moments of free falling, landed in the streets below without a scratch. Trinity did the same.

Sinon backed away from the edge. "I can't do this."

"Well we have to. No time to explore any options. Need me to carry you?"

She hesitantly told him yes as she wrapped her arms around his neck and he held her up off the ground. He heard a door open behind him. An Agent walked out, his pistol already aimed. Kirito jumped back as the Agent shot, the bullet hitting Sinon in the middle of her leg. Kirito felt the wind rushing up past his body as he abruptly landed, the report he got from the impact jarring him as he nearly fell to the ground, which had cracked considerably from the landing. Sinon was breathing heavily and looking as if she was about to have a heart attack. He started for the subway, Morpheus and Trinity just ahead of them.

They stopped next to the payphone, which immediately started ringing. "Sinon first, she needs medical attention." Kirito said as he set her down next to the phone and picked it up for her. With a trembling hand, she put the phone next to her ear and her body disappeared. "Morhpeus, you next." He said as he set the phone back onto the hook. Morpheus picked it up as it started to ring again. Morpheus vanished as Kirito once again set the phone back on the hook. "I'll see you on the other side." He said to Trinity as he handed her the phone as it started ringing. However, just as she disappeared, he heard another gunshot come from his right. The phone shattered. He turned his head to see an Agent walking towards him. The same one that killed Suguha.

"Mister Kazuto."


	14. Chapter 14

A million things were running through Kirito's mind. His only escape route had been destroyed, and there was the Agent that killed his mother and sister walking towards him, ready to kill. He only had one option. Kirito turned to face the approaching Agent. He had but one pistol left.

The Agent stopped his approach, and clenched his fist. Kirito moved his hand next to the holster. They drew their weapons at exactly the same time, both dodging the other's bullets as they ran and then leaped at each other, catching each other's arm, and still continuing to fire; bullets getting closer each time. They landed down on the ground, both guns next to their opponent's head. They both pulled the trigger, but to Kirito's surprise, neither of the weapons went off. Kirito moved his eyes to his weapon, completely out of ammo.

"You're empty." The Agent growled at him.

"So are you." Kirito said with a somewhat cocky tone. They both laid on the cold stone floor, in silence for the next several moments. Kirito finally made his move. He pushed upwards with his left hand, sending his body flipping backwards. As he landed, the Agent stood, and tossed his pistol to the side; Kirito doing the same. The Agent cracked his neck, maintaining the calm look on his face. Kirito charged, leading with two punches as hard as his arm would allow; though the Agent easily blocked them and kicked Kirito in the chest with his knee, pushing him back against a large column. Kirito anticipated the next two strikes, dodging both of them, each punch taking out a chunk of concrete on impact. Kirito kicked upwards, feeling his leg connect with the Agent's stomach, who seemed to be stunned by the blow. Kirito took advantage and followed up with two more kicks, one hitting the Agent in his chest and the other in his temple; the force knocking the Agent back. He hoped he could land in one more hit, and spun around, delivering a swift roundhouse kick right in the Agent's temple. The Agent nearly fell backwards, catching himself on another stone column. The Agent stared right at Kirito with a furious look on his face.

The Agent took off his cracked glasses and tossed them to the floor. The Agent spoke with the same calm, malevolent tone. "I'm going to enjoy watching you die, Mister Kazuto."

The Agent lunged at Kirito, sending two powerful strikes that would have hit Kirito right in his head if not for blocking them with his forearm. Kirito tried to once again kick the Agent in the stomach, although the Agent caught his leg and slammed Kirito's knee with his elbow. Kirito winced at the pain as the Agent kicked his other leg out from beneath him and punched his body in midair, sending him flying backwards. Kirito recovered from the attack and pushed the Agent backwards with his leg. Kirito tried to jab his opponent, although the Agent easily caught his fist. Kirito shook off the Agent's grip, leaving his opponent's body completely open. He threw everything he had at the Agent, punching him five times in a quick succession, four landing on his chest and the last in his jaw. He tried to throw two more punches although the Agent caught both of his arms, headbutted him twice, and punched him just below the rib cage. Kirito backed away and desperately tried to punch the Agent, only to have the Agent once again catch his arm, leaving Kirito's side completely open. The Agent punched him three times in his side, each one causing exponentially worse pain. Kirito pulled his arm free, and tried to back away. The Agent, however, hit Kirito right in the middle of his chest at full force, making him fly backwards.

All Kirito could notice was the pain. He had to fight back somehow. He coughed up blood as he struggled back to his feet, the Agent with a smirk on his face. Kirito wiped the blood off his face, and took his stance. This made the Agent look annoyed as Kirito caught both of the Agent's incoming punches, putting the Agent into the same position Kirito was in a few moments ago. Kirito headbutted the Agent twice, then uppercut the Agent in his chin as hard as he could. Kirito ran at the Agent, jumping upwards, and kicking the Agent five times in midair. He landed, and threw a punch with all of his strength, only to have the Agent catch his fist less than an inch away. Kirito stuck out his fingers, poking the Agent in the neck, distracting him. Kirito used his opportunity to slam the Agent with his left arm twice, trying to follow up with another kick, which the Agent caught. Kirito punched the Agent twice more with his right arm, but the Agent blocked against the third punch, lifted Kirito off the ground, and hurled him towards a wall. Kirito impacted the wall, making a massive crack down it. The Agent walked forward, and started beating Kirito mercilessly until it felt like all of his ribs were broken. The Agent pulled him away from the wall, and punched him in the chest one last time, sending him backwards. Kirito felt blood dribbling down from his lips.

Kirito could hear a train down the tunnel. The Agent heard it, too, and grabbed Kirito's leg, dragging him down to the track and restraining him. Kirito looked up to see the train coming closer by the second. The Agent said softly in his ear. "That, Mister Kazuto, is the sound of inevitability. It is the sound of your death." Kirito clutched at the Agent's arm wrapped around his throat. "Goodbye, Mister Kazuto."

Kirito mustered what little strength he had left. "My name... is Kirito." Kirito grabbed the Agent's arms and leaped upwards, slamming the Agent's back into the ceiling. The train was only a matter of seconds away. He landed, the Agent stunned, and jumped off the track. The Agent jumped to his feet and reached for Kirito, but was killed by the incoming train. Kirito turned and started to walk away.

The train ground to a halt. One of the doors on the train opened, and the Agent walked out, completely recovered. Kirito knew he was in no shape for a rematch. "Damn it." Kirito muttered to himself as he took off running towards the exit. He could hear the Agent fire his pistol at Kirito, one of the bullets hitting him in his right calf. Kirito stumbled but continued to run. He reached for the earpiece. "Tank?! Get me the hell out of here!"

"Turn right!" Tank said frantically as Kirito turned and continued to run down the street, dodging cars and pedestrians as well as bullets, now coming from the two other Agents pursuing him. "On your left, through the alley and up the fire escape!" Kirito darted across the street, even jumping over an oncoming car. He could plainly see the fire escape. He jumped up and continued up to climb up the fire escape until he got to the first room. He burst through the door to see two elderly women, one sitting on a couch, the other slicing tomatoes in a kitchen. He ran through the room and towards the front door, into a long hallway. "Up one more floor, room 303!" Kirito took his hand off the earpiece as he continued to sprint up the stairway. He saw the hallway with a sign next to it reading '300-315'. He broke into a wild sprint, driven by the faint sound of the phone ringing. He burst through the front door of room 303. His heart stopped.

Standing in front of the doorway, was the Agent; aiming his pistol right at Kirito. The weapon fired; Kirito still in shock. He looked down, his entire body feeling numb. There was a bullet hole right in the lower part of his chest, where his heart was. Blood was trickling down from the hole. The Agent fired again. This time, he felt the full power of the round as the force sent him back against the wall. Kirito looked up at the Agent, clutching his chest, his breath becoming faster and faster. The Agent fired once again. Then again. He continued to fire until all eight shots in the weapon had been used up. Kirito slumped to the floor, rapidly losing what little life was left in him. Kirito finally closed his eyes, and his breathing stopped. The Agent turned and walked away.

Asuna placed her hand on the cheek of her dead lover. "No... no this can't be." Her eyes were filling up with tears. She took hold of his hand. "Kirito, I know you can hear me, so listen." Tears began to run down her face. "I believe in you. The Oracle told me I would save you." She moved closer to his ear. "I know you are the One. I know that you are going to save us one day." She tightened her grip on his hand. "You can't be dead... I love you too much. You have to be the One." She laid her head down on his chest. She heard a quiet thump noise. She looked back up at the monitor that was keeping track of his vitals. His heart had restarted, and he had begun breathing again. "Now get up."

Kirito opened his eyes and rose to his feet, no longer feeling any pain. He could only partially see the world around him. It was as if his mind was telling him that it was there, but not real. He could make out falling green lines of code all around him, and at the end of the hallway, were the three Agents. They all simultaneously raised their guns to shoot him. Kirito put his hand out. The Agents fired every bullet they had in their weapons, but they were all stopped right in front of Kirito's hand. The Agents lowered their weapons, looking dumbfounded. The Agent he had just fought charged at him, throwing every punch he could as fast as he could, but Kirito blocked every single one of them using only one hand without flinching the slightest bit. He caught the Agent's arm and kicked the Agent backwards, who flew all the way to the end of the hallway. Kirito ran, and then _flew_ at the Agent, going _into_ the Agent's body. The Agent turned to look at the other two, horrified. His body began twitching violently, and blew up in a flash of green light. Kirito stood in place of the Agent. He looked straight forward. The other two Agents glanced at each other, and then took off running.

Kirito breathed a sigh of relief, and walked leisurely down to the room. The phone began ringing again. He picked it up, and returned to the real world, Asuna patiently waiting for him. He opened his eyes. Asuna hugged him as tightly as she could. "Dummy. You had me worried sick." He smiled at this and embraced her.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here, with you." Kirito whispered.

"It's over." Asuna said. Kirito could only wish that it was true.


End file.
